Something for Everyone: Living the Dominican Four Pillars

via WikiCommons (CC).

This past fall I was blessed to begin formation with my local Lay Dominican chapter, happily coinciding with the opening of the 800th Jubilee of the Order of Preachers. My husband and I count a few Dominican friars among our friends, but it wasn’t until I met sisters that I recognized my attraction to all things Dominican. As it turns out, I’d been living many aspects of the Dominican charism already.

Every charism within the Church has something to teach us about holiness and Christian living, and the Dominican charism is no exception. (Not to brag too loudly, but we have a lot of saints and blesseds. Something must be working.)

With this in mind, and in anticipation of Monday’s (August 8) feast of St. Dominic, I’d like to indulge in a little bit of Dominican rah! rah! and give a brief overview of the Four Pillars of Dominican life. My hope is that everyone might find a nugget of practical wisdom or spiritual takeaway. There’s something for everyone here, even the most Franciscan or Carmelite or Benedictine or Jesuit people among us!